Recurrence of a Previous Life: Severus Snape
by somuchtimesolittletodo
Summary: An alternate universe type story about Severus Snape and a second chance at love and redemption.
1. Chapter 1: Familiarity

**Chapter ONE: Familiarity**

I glanced across at him. Dumbledore had just introduced us but the figure standing before them seemed not to react.

'Severus,' said Dumbledore.

'This is a mistake.'

'Severus…' Dumbledore implored, looking over his half-moon glasses.

Snape didn't look happy. I wasn't happy either. Of all the professors Dumbledore could have paired me up with.

I had always got on ok with Snape. We'd had our initial problems, me being in Gryffindor and he being the Slytherin Head of House. I remembered him from my time as a student here. He knew my history… It made me uncomfortable. Even McGonagall hadn't known the full extent.

'What were you doing in the years since you left here?' he asked suddenly.

I looked down, embarrassed.

'Professor Dumbledore, I…'

'I know about all of that Liza. You don't need to be concerned with this.'

He asked me to go. A house elf appeared to escort me.

I left without making eye contact with Snape.

The first day as a Professor/Assistant came around. Severus was in foul spirits. He was never in bright spirits but today seemed a particularly bad time to start working with him.

I entered the dungeons prior to any students appearing and sat down at the stone desk where I had always looked up to Snape. Students started to file in and stared curiously at me. I felt awkward but smiled at each person. The Gryffindors smiled back, the Slytherins scowled or else looked wary.

Snape swept in in a familiar fashion, his robes billowing behind him. I remembered him being taller. He seemed not to see me but instead stood in front of the desk and gave out instructions to the students. He didn't introduce me. I wilted a little in my seat. Should I stand up and introduce myself? It seemed abrupt.

He came up to the desk and made as though about to sit down. He took one look at me and recognized my discomfort. I groaned inwardly, he would be enjoying this. To my surprise however he motioned for me to stand and cleared his throat.

'This is Professor Aylward,' he announced. 'She will be assisting this class for the next month or so as part of her training.' The class nodded and murmured amongst themselves.

'Settle down and begin. Ten points from the Dunderheads who do the worst.'

The plurality of this was not lost on them as the clatter of cauldrons and scales, and the scent of ingredients filled the air.

Snape swept up the desk and sat down in his seat. He had a certain grace, even with his bat-like countenance, I observed.

'Thank you,' I said, without looking at him.

When he didn't react, I looked up. He seemed to be surveying me.

'I'm not sure what to make of you, Aylward, however you are a Professor and these idiots should know and respect that.' He measured each word as he spoke, 'Learn as much as you can from this unpleasant experience.'

I nodded and then stood and walked around the front desk, amongst the students. Where I noticed people performing the instructions incorrectly I helped out of the corner of my mouth, as I remembered Snape enjoying the mayhem that ensued when he set a particularly difficult potion, particularly when the subjects of that mayhem were not of his House.

After everyone had left, I stood as though to leave.

'Stop,' he said, when I'd made it almost to the door. This was surely for effect.

'Do not do that again,' he said quietly. For the lack of volume, there was a deafening command to his voice.

'Do what?' I asked, just as softly, sticking my chin up.

'Don't tell them what to do...' He stepped around the desk silently until he stood in front of me. 'The ones who made this draught successfully through your instruction will not remember where they would have gone wrong. I have my methods and I would appreciate that no one interferes with them.'

Watching my ears burn he gave a satisfied smile.

'You're the boss,' I shrugged my shoulders and left.

Needless to say, I was seething on my way back to my office. Unfortunately, my office and living space was adjacent to Snape's and it wasn't long before I heard him arrive back.

Flopping down onto a nearby settee and feeling lost and awkward and lonely I thought about going out. Where could I go? I didn't really know anybody here.

I was just thinking this when there was a flash of fire, just above my right shoulder. I gave a shout and toppled backwards. A booming voice filled the room.

'Dumbledore requests your presence at the Three Broomsticks at 6pm.'

I stared from whence the voice and flames came. A party. O Dumbledore you shouldn't have…


	2. Chapter 2: Second First Impressions

**Chapter TWO: Second First Impressions**

'I head she was in a juvenile detention centre.'

'I heard she was a gogo dancer.'

The rumour mills were churning as I arrived at the Three Broomsticks. I pretended not to have heard.

'Aa – Liza!' Dumbledore swept towards me. A section of the bar seemed to be filled with Hogwarts staff. You should join our table. What are you drinking?'

Madam Pomfrey and Pince stopped talking abruptly and flashed me brilliant smiles. I elected to sit next to Dumbledore at the next table along.

I liked Dumbledore. He seemed to know everyone and remembered me! This was a feat as I had been the most unremarkable person that Hogwarts probably ever housed.

I sat with Dumbledore, Hagrid and McGonagall, enjoying their conversation and wondering how odd it was to be sitting with them as colleagues when I had only ever really known them as authority figures.

Hagrid was telling a particularly inappropriate story about a bet he lost with three hags which involved a new cauldron and a heck of a lot of shaving when Snape arrived, looking windswept and surly.

He made to sit at our table when he noticed I was sitting there. I quickly moved over so that he could sit down. He ignored me, sat on the other side of Dumbledore and immediately started a conversation with him in a low voice. Hagrid continued his tale of awkward shave-related confusion.

The night passed quickly and everyone was getting up to leave.

'Severus, could you accompany Liza to Aberforth's? I believe he had a package for her.'

I wondered what it could be, and then registered I would have to spend more alone-time with Snape. Damn…

Severus agreed to do whatever Dumbledore asked of him and this request was relatively minor.

We walked silently when the others left us for the Castle. I didn't let the awkwardness settle in but continued to push forward into the cold night, my head held high.

'You're going the wrong way,' he said dryly.

'Oh. Right.' I just about bit back an apology from my lame mouth.

We reached Aberforth's house but he didn't appear to be in. The package sat innocuously outside the door, already gathering a small layer of snow.

I wondered whether to open it in front of Snape. I couldn't really trust him and some of the things I bought on owl order were questionable so probably best not to open it in front of him-

'Are you not going to open it?'

'Nope, I'll check when I get home,' it didn't sound strange to call it that. Severus looked at me strangely. Maybe we had all been lost and found a home in Hogwarts.

'I guess I've lived there before so it feels like home,' I clarified, unabashedly, and smiled to myself remembering the good times I had had at school and wondering what had happened to the friends I'd lost touch with.

When he didn't say anything, I picked at the packaging and opened it up to find a set of heavy pewter scales. They seemed to be giving off a whirring sound, as though churning and processing ingredients.

'Aaah, Condicorro scales.'

'What?'

'They adjust the amount of ingredients you add to them automatically so it's the right amount for your potion.' Snape pointed at the dials, 'You just say which potion you're making. They're not always accurate though.'

I watched him inspect it.

'The old fashioned ones are better?'

'Yes.' He said shortly.

'Ok...' we started to walk back. No further conversation… The awkwardness was going to set in. 'I wonder who sent it.' I thought aloud.

He nodded but didn't reply.

I started to trail behind him. I expected him to continue at the same pace but he stopped and waited, turning slightly.

'Do try to keep up.'

'You walk really fast. What's the rush?'

He didn't answer.

We fell into pace again. An easier silence this time. I surveyed the castle ahead, the great gates were opening. 'My home in all its glory,' I breathed.

I didn't notice Severus' face soften.


	3. Chapter 3: The Pensieve

**Chapter THREE: The Pensieve**

My first week passed slightly better than my first day. Snape seemed to ignore me a bit less and I became more familiar with the students and Snape's way of working. I liked my students and favoured the Gryffindors as I got a sense of nostalgia whenever their turn for lessons came around.

Thursday evenings were for remedial potions. It was one such evening that I entered the dungeons expecting to find Snape. He had asked that I meet him here to talk through lesson plans but I had arrived a little early. Snape was a fan of fashionably late entrances and so I went to sit at my desk patiently when I noticed a silver light flashing somewhere to my left. There was a cupboard ajar at the end of the dark dungeon and the light source seemed to be therein. I stood up and walked around the desk slowly, wanting to investigate but afraid of what I might find. Snape's dungeons had held some nasty surprises for me in the past.

I got to the cupboard, bent down and saw a basin full of a silvery substance. As I glanced down at it, wondering what it was, I was flung head first into the contents.

[Sees Snape's worst memory – where he gets bullied by James Potter and others]

I felt a vice-like grip on my shoulder as I watched the scene unfold. Looking up, I baulked, 'Severus I…!' I hadn't meant to enter the Pensieve. I hadn't even known what it was until then. My head and shoulders lifted as we left the Pensieve. As our feet landed on the ground, I made eye contact with Snape anxiously and he pushed me away as I started to apologise.

Bottles nearby exploded and the shards of glass left scratches on the exposed parts of my body. I stumbled past them to get to the door as tears filled my eyes. I felt angry and misunderstood. I turned, and just as I did, the cabinet which was now behind me exploded, sending shards of glass and potion into my back.

I gasped but managed to keep my balance. I glared at him and tried to keep my voice even.

'You think you're the only person to have suffered in this world, Snape?' I demanded, getting closer to him. Snape seemed to have recognized that I was galvanized by the attack. He took a step backward but his face hardened. Another explosion, more pain.

It wasn't until I stumbled and fell that he seemed to register what had happened and his eyes widened. I fell forward, onto my hands and knees and felt like I was going to pass out. There was blood trickling down my back and so much pain.

Severus seemed to catch me as I passed out. When I awoke, my top half was spread eagled on a desk and my shirt had been pulled up and someone seemed to be applying something. I made to sit up but he pushed me back down on the desk.

'This will make it better.' Snape said simply. Turning my head so that he could see me (though I couldn't see him) I glared as hard as I could in his general direction. Unbeknownst to me he smiled at my attempt at conveying hatred.

He applied the potion in relative silence then.

The seething anger raging inwardly seemed to leave as swiftly as it came. I lay flat over the desk pathetically. This was embarrassing to say the least, but not uncomfortable. His fingers slid down my back easily and rested slightly too long with each application. I held my breath but he seemed not to notice.

'There,' he said finally. I sat up, adjusting my top and looking anywhere but him. When I did eventually look up he was staring at me. 'I think we're even,' he said.

He made to leave. 'I'm sorry,' I blurted out, 'I really didn't mean for it to happen. I was curious, I should've left as soon as I realized what was going on.'

There was a pause, and then Snape did something astonishing. He sat down and looked at his hands.

'I know more about you than you know about me,' he said.

My stomach gave a sickening lurch; he remembered.

It had been when I was a seventh year student. I just had my dad, but rumours started that he had gone missing. They found his body shortly afterwards, but not before I received a letter from him. It was a suicide note, one that I kept with me wherever I went. It was after this that I became withdrawn, I couldn't function anymore. My friends waited for me to get over it, but after a long while they weren't my friends anymore. Snape seemed to be the only teacher who didn't treat me any differently after the whole thing, the others giving me passes and made me wary with their pitying glances. I started to hate Snape and disrupting his classes gave me some sort of satisfaction. I had never been a rebellious teenager before but his presence seemed to bring this out in me every time. The detentions seemed to stretch out beyond me.

One time, I overheard McGonagall trying to convince him to drop them. Even Dumbledore tried to talk to me. I was polite, because I respected Dumbledore, but incorrigible.

I remembered the evening of _that_ particular detention, how dark it had been in the dungeons, and how eerily the light from the candles in brackets danced on the walls. Snape did not say a word aside from brief instructions to clean the floor without magic. Sometimes he would leave and I would have the hour and a half of detention to myself. _That_ night was not one of those.

I got into an argument with him, the exchange I do not clearly remember. It became heated, and then my blood boiled and things started to shatter. Snape stood and covered the distance between us as my vision began to fracture and the tears came.

I wouldn't say he comforted me, but he didn't leave my side until I stopped. It meant a lot. I dropped out shortly after but completed my NEWTs two years later at a private school.

Snape spoke slowly, as per his usual manner, 'I do not wish to impart on anyone, a part of my life I wish to forget myself.' I held his gaze when he looked up.

His black eyes held a small bit of regret.

I found my voice, it sounded cracked and old, 'it's ok.

I don't know you, you don't need to share anything with me.'

I paused, waiting. Then, 'Severus, I'm not sure me working here is going to work out.' I exhaled, 'When Dumbledore paired me up with you I was the least enthusiastic about it but I've learned a lot from you. You're a good teacher, even if some of your students don't like your methods.

Whatever I saw today, it was a bunch of jock-idiots bullying someone. That was you as a kid. You're so much better than that now, and no one gives a shit about the past, least of all me.'

There was a small smile playing about his lips but it seemed to disappear as soon as I paused again.

'And, thank you. Thank you for _that_ time. I didn't forget… but I didn't say before… so… thanks.'

I smiled awkwardly.

Snape was smiling now. What a strange sight… 'You should stay and try harder,' he said simply.

'Yes, sir,' I said, mock-saluting him.

'Don't do that again.'

'O-Ok..' I faltered, then grinned, 'See you tomorrow?'

'Tomorrow.' He had become his surly, clipped self again. I scurried out of the dungeon before things could get bad again.


End file.
